ACTA OTORHINOLARYNGOLOGICA ITALICA

Le asimmetrie maxillo-mandibolari riconoscono numerose eziologie: congenita, traumatica, iatrogena e post resezione oncologica. I pazienti affetti da malformazioni congenite vengono generalmente sottoposti a chirurgia ortognatica con o senza procedure aggiuntive (genioplastica, impianti alloplastici) con risultati soddisfacenti. Tuttavia, nonostante il raggiungimento della simmetria scheletrica può esitare una asimmetria residua più o meno evidente. Lo studio presentato è stato effettuato su 45 pazienti (29 femmine e 16 maschi), trattati chirurgicamente tra Dicembre 2012 e Giugno 2014. Tutti i pazienti erano affetti da asimmetria maxillo-mandibolare e sono stati sottoposti a chirurgia ortognatica per la correzione ossea della deformità. Le alterazioni residue sono state trattate con lipofilling. In tutti i casi si è osservato un buon attecchimento del grasso a livello del sito ricevente. Lanalisi retrospettiva della documentazione fotografica ha dimostrato un progressivo decremento dei volumi raggiunti in seguito al trattamento con lipofilling fino a sei mesi dalla procedura, dopodiché i volumi sono rimasti invariati. Non sono state riportate complicanze significative sia a livello del sito donatore sia del ricevente. Un lieve edema ecchimotico è stato osservato frequentemente nella prima settimana post-operatoria, non sono stati riportati casi di ematoma, infezioni, danni nervosi o vascolari. 24 pazienti hanno avuto necessità di ulteriori applicazioni, una seconda applicazione si è resa necessaria in 22 pazienti ed una terza in 2 pazienti. (totale di 69 procedure). Sulla base dei risultati di questo studio la metodica del lipofilling si è dimostrata semplice, efficace e facilmente riproducibile, mostrando un alto indice di soddisfazione da parte dei pazienti e una scarsa incidenza di svantaggi e complicanze. Abbiamo inoltre dimostrato come il successo del riempimento con grasso autologo sia dipendente dalla subunità del viso che viene trattata. Le regioni malare e della guancia hanno mostrato i migliori risultati mentre le subunità corrispondenti al labbro inferiore e superiore hanno mostrato uno scarso attecchimento del grasso innestato, con una conseguente maggiore perdita di volume. In conclusione si può dire che le procedure composite, che prevedono lutilizzo congiunto della correzione chirurgica delle basi scheletriche e un successivo ritocco per mezzo di innesto di grasso autologo, costituiscono una opzione addizionale e personalizzabile per i pazienti affetti da malformazioni maxillo-mandibolari

Ecological correlates of Golden eagle (Aquila chrysaetos) breeding occurrence in Sardinia (Italy).

Capsule Golden Eagles Aquila chrysaetos in Sardinia are clustered across the main mountain ranges of the island, with a preference for undisturbed and homogeneous inland habitats. Aims To analyse habitat preferences of the Golden Eagle in Sardinia, Italy, at the landscape and home range spatial scales. Methods Landscape scale habitat preferences were analysed using the 10 × 10 km Universal Transverse Mercator grid and the home range scale was based on the spatial distribution of breeding territories. Generalized linear models were fitted with three different sets of environmental predictors (topographic, bioclimatic and land use variables) to analyse the spatial distribution of Golden Eagles with a case-control design. Results Eagles showed a preference for rugged and elevated areas, characterized by a certain degree of humidity and surrounded by areas of forest. The distribution of Golden Eagles on this Mediterranean island was negatively affected by the occurrence of arable farmland and coastal areas, as well as by the effects of habitat fragmentation. Conclusions The results of this study could contribute to future management strategies and conservation projects aimed to protect this species, and may be used to identify the most suitable conservation areas for this and other competing species, such as the Bonelli's Eagle Aquila fasciata, which is currently the subject of a reintroduction project in Sardinia

Spinal cord grey matter segmentation challenge

An important image processing step in spinal cord magnetic resonance imaging is the ability to reliably and accurately segment grey and white matter for tissue specific analysis. There are several semi- or fully-automated segmentation methods for cervical cord cross-sectional area measurement with an excellent performance close or equal to the manual segmentation. However, grey matter segmentation is still challenging due to small cross-sectional size and shape, and active research is being conducted by several groups around the world in this field. Therefore a grey matter spinal cord segmentation challenge was organised to test different capabilities of various methods using the same multi-centre and multi-vendor dataset acquired with distinct 3D gradient-echo sequences. This challenge aimed to characterize the state-of-the-art in the field as well as identifying new opportunities for future improvements. Six different spinal cord grey matter segmentation methods developed independently by various research groups across the world and their performance were compared to manual segmentation outcomes, the present gold-standard. All algorithms provided good overall results for detecting the grey matter butterfly, albeit with variable performance in certain quality-of-segmentation metrics. The data have been made publicly available and the challenge web site remains open to new submissions. No modifications were introduced to any of the presented methods as a result of this challenge for the purposes of this publication

Parathyroidectomy and survival in a cohort of Italian dialysis patients: results of a multicenter, observational, prospective study

Background: Severe secondary hyperparathyroidism (SHPT) is associated with mortality in end stage kidney disease (ESKD). Parathyroidectomy (PTX) becomes necessary when medical therapy fails, thus highlighting the interest to compare biochemical and clinical outcomes of patients receiving either medical treatment or surgery. Methods: We aimed to compare overall survival and biochemical control of hemodialysis patients with severe hyperparathyroidism, treated by surgery or medical therapy followed-up for 36 months. Inclusion criteria were age older than 18 years, renal failure requiring dialysis treatment (hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis) and ability to sign the consent form. A control group of 418 patients treated in the same centers, who did not undergo parathyroidectomy was selected after matching for age, sex, and dialysis vintage. Results: From 82 Dialysis units in Italy, we prospectively collected data of 257 prevalent patients who underwent parathyroidectomy (age 58.2 ± 12.8 years; M/F: 44%/56%, dialysis vintage: 15.5 ± 8.4 years) and of 418 control patients who did not undergo parathyroidectomy (age 60.3 ± 14.4 years; M/F 44%/56%; dialysis vintage 11.2 ± 7.6 y). The survival rate was higher in the group that underwent parathyroidectomy (Kaplan–Meier log rank test = 0.002). Univariable analysis (HR 0.556, CI: 0.387–0.800, p = 0.002) and multivariable analysis (HR 0.671, CI:0.465–0.970, p = 0.034), identified parathyroidectomy as a protective factor of overall survival. The prevalence of patients at KDOQI targets for PTH was lower in patients who underwent parathyroidectomy compared to controls (PTX vs non-PTX: PTH < 150 pg/ml: 59% vs 21%, p = 0.001; PTH at target: 18% vs 37% p = 0.001; PTH > 300 pg/ml 23% vs 42% p = 0.001). The control group received more intensive medical treatment with higher prevalence of vitamin D (65% vs 41%, p = 0.0001), calcimimetics (34% vs 14%, p = 0.0001) and phosphate binders (77% vs 66%, p = 0.002). Conclusions: Our data suggest that parathyroidectomy is associated with survival rate at 36 months, independently of biochemical control. Lower exposure to high PTH levels could represent an advantage in the long term. Graphical abstract: [Figure not available: see fulltext.]

Open-access quantitative MRI data of the spinal cord and reproducibility across participants, sites and manufacturers

In a companion paper by Cohen-Adad et al. we introduce the spine generic quantitative MRI protocol that provides valuable metrics for assessing spinal cord macrostructural and microstructural integrity. This protocol was used to acquire a single subject dataset across 19 centers and a multi-subject dataset across 42 centers (for a total of 260 participants), spanning the three main MRI manufacturers: GE, Philips and Siemens. Both datasets are publicly available via git-annex. Data were analysed using the Spinal Cord Toolbox to produce normative values as well as inter/intra-site and inter/intra-manufacturer statistics. Reproducibility for the spine generic protocol was high across sites and manufacturers, with an average inter-site coefficient of variation of less than 5% for all the metrics. Full documentation and results can be found at https://spine-generic.rtfd.io/. The datasets and analysis pipeline will help pave the way towards accessible and reproducible quantitative MRI in the spinal cord

Consensus acquisition protocol for quantitative MRI of the cervical spinal cord at 3T

We present a consensus recommendation for best practices in high quality data acquisition of quantitative MRI (qMRI) of the cervical spinal cord at 3T. We propose protocols for computing cross-sectional area (CSA), magnetization transfer ratio (MTR) and diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) from three main vendors. We demonstrate these protocols by repeated scans of a single subject, from which the data and analysis scripts are made available. We hope harmonized and publicly-available spinal cord imaging protocols will promote reproducibility and thus accelerate the progress for spinal cord measurements to be more widely accepted as MRI biomarkers in multicenter studies

Generic acquisition protocol for quantitative MRI of the spinal cord

Quantitative spinal cord (SC) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) presents many challenges, including a lack of standardized imaging protocols. Here we present a prospectively harmonized quantitative MRI protocol, which we refer to as the spine generic protocol, for users of 3T MRI systems from the three main manufacturers: GE, Philips and Siemens. The protocol provides guidance for assessing SC macrostructural and microstructural integrity: T1-weighted and T2-weighted imaging for SC cross-sectional area computation, multi-echo gradient echo for gray matter cross-sectional area, and magnetization transfer and diffusion weighted imaging for assessing white matter microstructure. In a companion paper from the same authors, the spine generic protocol was used to acquire data across 42 centers in 260 healthy subjects. The key details of the spine generic protocol are also available in an open-access document that can be found at https://github.com/spine-generic/protocols. The protocol will serve as a starting point for researchers and clinicians implementing new SC imaging initiatives so that, in the future, inclusion of the SC in neuroimaging protocols will be more common. The protocol could be implemented by any trained MR technician or by a researcher/clinician familiar with MRI acquisition

Open-access quantitative MRI data of the spinal cord and reproducibility across participants, sites and manufacturers

In a companion paper by Cohen-Adad et al. we introduce the spine generic quantitative MRI protocol that provides valuable metrics for assessing spinal cord macrostructural and microstructural integrity. This protocol was used to acquire a single subject dataset across 19 centers and a multi-subject dataset across 42 centers (for a total of 260 participants), spanning the three main MRI manufacturers: GE, Philips and Siemens. Both datasets are publicly available via git-annex. Data were analysed using the Spinal Cord Toolbox to produce normative values as well as inter/intra-site and inter/intra-manufacturer statistics. Reproducibility for the spine generic protocol was high across sites and manufacturers, with an average inter-site coefficient of variation of less than 5% for all the metrics. Full documentation and results can be found at https://spine-generic.rtfd.io/. The datasets and analysis pipeline will help pave the way towards accessible and reproducible quantitative MRI in the spinal cord